All Topics / Help Needed! / Any tips re deciding if a particular house is “good” &/or suitable for Renovation

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  • Profile photo of mixedupmixedup
    Participant
    @mixedup
    Join Date: 2008
    Post Count: 79
    February 17, 2008 - 11:13 pm

    Hi all,

    Just starting to look at houses for my first IP. I read a lot about how investors snap up "good stock", but how to IP investors typically determine this? Assume we're looking at a particular house (i.e. I'm not asking for advice re location, close to school, shopping, transport etc). So tips would be appreciated re:

    Q1 – How to determine if a particular house would be good from an on-going maintenance/investment perspective. E.g.
    * Brick versus non-brick
    * What one could look for on-line on real-estate.com versus what to check when on-site

    Q2 – Any tips on how to spot a good reno opportunity too? (or a bad one) I'm interested in adding some value (reno) in the house we get, including taking a few weeks off work to work on the property myself (for the easy stuff – I'm not a builder). E.g.
    * Looks structurally sound but interior is worn (e.g. needs full internal re-paint – which we could do)
    * Outdated kitchen (kitchen reno)
    * I'm hoping that once I visited enough places in the area I will develop an understanding of level of rent increase one may expect for a given reno?

    Profile photo of MikGanMikGan
    Member
    @mikgan
    Join Date: 2008
    Post Count: 4
    February 18, 2008 - 3:05 am

    I'm only new to this so I'll let Q1 go through to the keeper.

    As for Q2,
    I think for my money that question is not so much about the property but more about skills.

    If I was a brickie then a re-stumping wouldn't phase me, being a software developer I'd have to think a little harder about the situation.

    I think things like:

    • tiling,
    • painting,
    • garden work,
    • building a deck,
    • concrete and plaster repairs

    are areas that most people could spend a little time on and make a large difference. Any job (no matter how big or small) becomes a problem when you have to pay someone else to do it. Get your hands dirty and there should be a plethora of reno opportunities that you could tackle.

    My 2c.

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